A farmer and his daughter were sitting by the fireside on a cold winter night. The farmer asked the daughter to go fetch some more wood for the fire. “I’m too tired, Father,” she replied. “You do it.” The father said, “Are you enjoying this fire?” The daughter smiled, “Yes, I am!” “Then, if you want to continue enjoying the fire, you need to go fetch the wood. But first, I will tell you a story about the Little Red Hen and her friends who didn’t want to help her.”
It was spring, and the Little Red Hen was looking for her friends in the farmyard. “Who would like to help me plant the wheat, so we can enjoy some bread in the summer?” she asked.
“That’s so far away,” replied the duck.
The pig agreed, “I just want to relax. It’s spring, after all.”
The cow added, “I like fresh-baked bread, but I want to enjoy this beautiful day.”
“Not I, not now,” said the dog.
So the Little Red Hen planted the wheat all by herself.
Many weeks passed, and the wheat had grown so tall, it was ready to be cut. The Little Red Hen walked busily around the yard, looking for help. It was a warm summer day, and the animals were on their way to the pond to cool off. “It’s too hot,” they said to her. “Come, get cool with us. Forget about the wheat.”
The wheat needed to be harvested right away, so the Little Red Hen couldn’t join them. Instead, she did all the work herself. A few days later, the Little Red Hen wanted to thresh the wheat to prepare it to be made into flour. Once again, she asked her barnyard friends, and all they did was make excuses. She threshed the wheat herself, and put it into bags to be taken to the mill where it would be made into flour. “I need some help to carry these heavy bags to the mill. Who can help me?” she asked.
What do you think they said?
They said, “We’re too busy having fun. We can’t help you.” The Little Red Hen put the bags in a wheelbarrow and went off to the mill all by herself. When she returned, she turned on the oven and announced that it was time to bake the bread. “Come one, come all, it’s time to bake the bread!”
Did anyone come to help her bake the bread? No, no one came. So she did it all by herself. She mixed the ingredients and put the loaves into the oven.
The sweet smell of the baking bread filled the yard. The duck, the pig, the cow, and the dog greeted the Little Red Hen gleefully.
“Looks like the bread is ready. We can’t wait to taste it. It smells so good!”
What do you think the Little Red Hen said? “I’m sorry for you,” she said. “None of you were willing to help with the work to make this bread, so I did it all myself. Now I will eat this all by myself, too!” And she did!
The farmer’s daughter enjoyed the story. She jumped out of her father’s lap and fetched the wood for the fire. She said, “Whenever you need help, dear Father, remind me of the story of the Little Red Hen! You work so hard, I want to do things for you!”
Objectives
Cognitive: Students will understand that it is in their best interests to participate in a job that needs doing, rather than to sit back and watch others do all the work. Affective: Students will respect the fairness lesson of this story. They will appreciate that a person gets back what he or she gives. Behavioral: Students will state and apply the motto “Hard Work Is Rewarded” when they are asked to help out with school and home chores. They will respond to prompts from the lesson when they are reluctant to help out at school.
Class Session 1
Materials Needed:
Materials to make a snack in several steps
Tell the students that the class will be reading this story together. Ask them to turn to the appropriate page. Introduce the story by saying that this is a story inside a story. You might want to draw something on the board to illustrate this, saying that the story of the little girl and her father is like a “frame” for the story of “The Little Red Hen.”
Tell students that the first story is about a girl who doesn’t want to help her dad. The second story is a fable that the dad tells his daughter to help her understand the value of helping out. Explain that a fable is a made-up story that has a lesson or moral to teach people right from wrong.
Call on students to read a few lines at a time. Read the story together.
After reading the story, ask the students to tell you about the two stories, especially what happened at the end of each. Call on students to tell you why they thought the girl was willing to help her dad after she heard the story of “The Little Red Hen.” Ask students if they think this was a good way for the father to help his daughter do the right thing. Listen to students’ responses. Explain that this book is filled with stories that the class will read together. Just as the father used a story to help his daughter, these stories were written to encourage students’ good behavior. Say, “I hope you will enjoy reading them together with me, and that you will find the lessons in them enjoyable and helpful.”
Mention that you will be watching to see if any of them offer to help you; praise them when they do. If they help out at home, you would like them to be prepared to tell the class about it tomorrow.
It would be good to pick a recipe—something the children would enjoy eating but which requires no cooking—and gather the ingredients beforehand. Make sure everyone has a job to do in the preparation and serving of the snack. Prepare the food and enjoy it! Remind students that because everyone helped, everyone gets to eat. Ask if that is what happened in the story.
Make the point that when they help out in everyday life, there are rewards. Say, “Sometimes the reward is that you feel good about yourself because you helped. Sometimes the reward is gaining a new skill—learning how to do something you didn’t know how to do before. Sometimes the reward is getting a part of what you helped to create. Did you get a part of what you helped to create today? Was it worth the work you did? Let’s remember this story when we are asked to help out, and remind ourselves that something good will happen because we did.”
Assignment: Some time today or tonight, offer to help your mother, father, or teacher. You will make him or her very happy!
Class Session 1
Mention by name and praise any student who was helpful to you yesterday after reading the story. Ask if any students helped out at home after reading the story. Invite anyone who wishes to tell his or her story of helping out at home. Praise their efforts.
Ask the students to reread the story on their own. Define the following vocabulary before they begin: wheat (try to show them some real wheat or some wheat products), harvested, thresh, wheelbarrow, announced, ingredients, and gleefully. Give them ten to twenty minutes to read the story and to write down answers to the Questions; then discuss their answers together.
Questions 1. Why did the father decide to tell his daughter a story by the fireside?
2. What did the Little Red Hen plan to make in the beginning of the story?
3. The animals didn’t help her. They always had an excuse. What is an excuse, and what are some excuses the animals used in the story?
4. There were a lot of steps to take to make the bread. What were they?
5. Do you think the Little Red Hen should have let the animals eat the bread? Why or why not?
Act out the story This is a great story to act out because it is simple and has a variety of characters. To act it out, you will need student volunteers to play the father, girl, little red hen, duck, pig, cow, and dog.
Some versions of the story use repetition to make the point. When the Little Red Hen asks, “Who will help me (plant the wheat, harvest the wheat, thresh the wheat, carry the wheat, and bake the bread)?” The animals always reply to her the same way: “Not I,” said the duck. “Not I,” said the pig. “Not I,” said the cow. “Not I,” said the dog. “Then I’ll do it all by myself,” said the Little Red Hen.
When it comes time to eat the bread, and the Little Red Hen asks, “Who will help me eat the bread?” the animals reply: “I!” said the duck. “I!” said the pig. “I!” said the cow. “I!” said the dog. To which the Little Red Hen replies, “I’ll do it all by myself!”
The repetition makes for a delightful little play that the children will enjoy acting out. This can be used in the future as a prompt for the students when you are looking for volunteers to help out in the classroom. If no students are willing to help, you can softly chant, “Not I, said the duck! Not I, said the pig! Now I, said the cow! Not I, said the dog! Do I have to do it all by myself, like the Little Red Hen?”
Choose students to read different parts. Try to give everyone a chance to participate. From: Discovering the Real Me, Book 3. For book orders, click here.
Story
Table of Contents
It was spring, and the Little Red Hen was looking for her friends in the farmyard. “Who would like to help me plant the wheat, so we can enjoy some bread in the summer?” she asked.
“That’s so far away,” replied the duck.
The pig agreed, “I just want to relax. It’s spring, after all.”
The cow added, “I like fresh-baked bread, but I want to enjoy this beautiful day.”
“Not I, not now,” said the dog.
So the Little Red Hen planted the wheat all by herself.
Many weeks passed, and the wheat had grown so tall, it was ready to be cut. The Little Red Hen walked busily around the yard, looking for help. It was a warm summer day, and the animals were on their way to the pond to cool off. “It’s too hot,” they said to her. “Come, get cool with us. Forget about the wheat.”
The wheat needed to be harvested right away, so the Little Red Hen couldn’t join them. Instead, she did all the work herself. A few days later, the Little Red Hen wanted to thresh the wheat to prepare it to be made into flour. Once again, she asked her barnyard friends, and all they did was make excuses. She threshed the wheat herself, and put it into bags to be taken to the mill where it would be made into flour. “I need some help to carry these heavy bags to the mill. Who can help me?” she asked.
What do you think they said?
They said, “We’re too busy having fun. We can’t help you.” The Little Red Hen put the bags in a wheelbarrow and went off to the mill all by herself. When she returned, she turned on the oven and announced that it was time to bake the bread. “Come one, come all, it’s time to bake the bread!”
Did anyone come to help her bake the bread? No, no one came. So she did it all by herself. She mixed the ingredients and put the loaves into the oven.
The sweet smell of the baking bread filled the yard. The duck, the pig, the cow, and the dog greeted the Little Red Hen gleefully.
“Looks like the bread is ready. We can’t wait to taste it. It smells so good!”
What do you think the Little Red Hen said? “I’m sorry for you,” she said. “None of you were willing to help with the work to make this bread, so I did it all myself. Now I will eat this all by myself, too!” And she did!
The farmer’s daughter enjoyed the story. She jumped out of her father’s lap and fetched the wood for the fire. She said, “Whenever you need help, dear Father, remind me of the story of the Little Red Hen! You work so hard, I want to do things for you!”
Objectives
Cognitive: Students will understand that it is in their best interests to participate in a job that needs doing, rather than to sit back and watch others do all the work.Affective: Students will respect the fairness lesson of this story. They will appreciate that a person gets back what he or she gives.
Behavioral: Students will state and apply the motto “Hard Work Is Rewarded” when they are asked to help out with school and home chores. They will respond to prompts from the lesson when they are reluctant to help out at school.
Class Session 1
Materials Needed:Tell the students that the class will be reading this story together. Ask them to turn to the appropriate page. Introduce the story by saying that this is a story inside a story. You might want to draw something on the board to illustrate this, saying that the story of the little girl and her father is like a “frame” for the story of “The Little Red Hen.”
Tell students that the first story is about a girl who doesn’t want to help her dad. The second story is a fable that the dad tells his daughter to help her understand the value of helping out. Explain that a fable is a made-up story that has a lesson or moral to teach people right from wrong.
Call on students to read a few lines at a time. Read the story together.
After reading the story, ask the students to tell you about the two stories, especially what happened at the end of each. Call on students to tell you why they thought the girl was willing to help her dad after she heard the story of “The Little Red Hen.” Ask students if they think this was a good way for the father to help his daughter do the right thing. Listen to students’ responses. Explain that this book is filled with stories that the class will read together. Just as the father used a story to help his daughter, these stories were written to encourage students’ good behavior. Say, “I hope you will enjoy reading them together with me, and that you will find the lessons in them enjoyable and helpful.”
Mention that you will be watching to see if any of them offer to help you; praise them when they do. If they help out at home, you would like them to be prepared to tell the class about it tomorrow.
It would be good to pick a recipe—something the children would enjoy eating but which requires no cooking—and gather the ingredients beforehand. Make sure everyone has a job to do in the preparation and serving of the snack. Prepare the food and enjoy it! Remind students that because everyone helped, everyone gets to eat. Ask if that is what happened in the story.
Make the point that when they help out in everyday life, there are rewards. Say, “Sometimes the reward is that you feel good about yourself because you helped. Sometimes the reward is gaining a new skill—learning how to do something you didn’t know how to do before. Sometimes the reward is getting a part of what you helped to create. Did you get a part of what you helped to create today? Was it worth the work you did? Let’s remember this story when we are asked to help out, and remind ourselves that something good will happen because we did.”
Assignment: Some time today or tonight, offer to help your mother, father, or teacher. You will make him or her very happy!
Class Session 1
Mention by name and praise any student who was helpful to you yesterday after reading the story. Ask if any students helped out at home after reading the story. Invite anyone who wishes to tell his or her story of helping out at home. Praise their efforts.Ask the students to reread the story on their own. Define the following vocabulary before they begin: wheat (try to show them some real wheat or some wheat products), harvested, thresh, wheelbarrow, announced, ingredients, and gleefully. Give them ten to twenty minutes to read the story and to write down answers to the Questions; then discuss their answers together.
Questions
1. Why did the father decide to tell his daughter a story by the fireside?
2. What did the Little Red Hen plan to make in the beginning of the story?
3. The animals didn’t help her. They always had an excuse. What is an excuse, and what are some excuses the animals used in the story?
4. There were a lot of steps to take to make the bread. What were they?
5. Do you think the Little Red Hen should have let the animals eat the bread? Why or why not?
Act out the story
This is a great story to act out because it is simple and has a variety of characters. To act it out, you will need student volunteers to play the father, girl, little red hen, duck, pig, cow, and dog.
Some versions of the story use repetition to make the point. When the Little Red Hen asks, “Who will help me (plant the wheat, harvest the wheat, thresh the wheat, carry the wheat, and bake the bread)?” The animals always reply to her the same way:
“Not I,” said the duck.
“Not I,” said the pig.
“Not I,” said the cow.
“Not I,” said the dog.
“Then I’ll do it all by myself,” said the Little Red Hen.
When it comes time to eat the bread, and the Little Red Hen asks, “Who will help me eat the
bread?” the animals reply:
“I!” said the duck.
“I!” said the pig.
“I!” said the cow.
“I!” said the dog.
To which the Little Red Hen replies, “I’ll do it all by myself!”
The repetition makes for a delightful little play that the children will enjoy acting out. This can be used in the future as a prompt for the students when you are looking for volunteers to help out in the classroom. If no students are willing to help, you can softly chant, “Not I, said the duck! Not I, said the pig! Now I, said the cow! Not I, said the dog! Do I have to do it all by myself, like the Little Red Hen?”
Choose students to read different parts. Try to give everyone a chance to participate.
From: Discovering the Real Me, Book 3. For book orders, click here.
Resources
Walt Disney animation of the Little Red HenComments
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